Sesame Street

It's probably a good thing I can be so easily entertained.

I've been having a few hard days recently and I'm not even kidding you, I'm voluntarily watching Sesame Street videos to cheer me up. These two are totally my faves.

There's something about puppet feet stomping that totally makes me giggle...


Clap clap - What's the letter?

Sesame Street is without a doubt my favorite kids show. It's far superior to Dora the Explorer which i tried watching to give Nolan some lessons on how to speak Spanish. But, holy geebus that show is boring and repetitive.

You might watch these videos and go "How does she stand these videos?" - well I'll tell you. You watch them probably like 4 times and then you're hooked. And all the sudden you're going "The number of the day, I will bring to you... the number of the day is..... TWO - so that's the number STOMP STOMP that's the number STOMP STOMP" and realize you're smiling and don't even care that you've got these kiddy songs in your head.

You're welcome.

Little tinker man, you're growing so fast! He's basically a kindergartner now... all grown up.

I bought him some adorable size 6 shoes for xmas... and they're already a little too tight on his toes. So I splurged and bought him some red "chuck taylors" so that he'll have some Cyclone flair in every outfit he wears.

Also, the poor kid needs a hair cut! I was looking at the hair hanging over his ears (pushed back for this picture) and just realized I need to step it up and cut his hair already. I've only done it twice so far and I've been meaning to cut it for the last month at least.

I talked to Brian, and told him we decided we are going to get his hair PROFESSIONALLY cut before Christian's wedding! I don't know how to cut bangs yet and I am a little afraid to try. By September, we're going to need something done about them bangs for sure.

It's also worth mentioning the Brian is the baby whisperer at bed time. He'll read him a book and sing him songs... all of which I get to hear over the monitor and it's so darn cute. But even better than that, is when he's all done reading the books and singing songs he says, "Night, night, Nolan" and Nolan gets up and GOES INTO HIS BED.

ON.
HIS.
OWN.

And then covers up with a blanket.

Seriously? This kid melts my heart.

The only solution is: SHOPPING

The other day I double payed my credit card. Which means that instead of carrying a balance I'm actually currently holding a negative balance... meaning that the credit card company essentially owes me money.

In the amount of $1500.

I'm stupid.

Anyways, since I don't believe that the credit card company is going to up and send me a check I feel the only solution here is shopping to reduce the credit that my card currently has.

So I took to etsy.

And yes, these are Nolan sized shirts.

Funny enough, they have 2T shirts then bump up to 4T shirts. So I made a judgment call and ordered the 4T knowing that my little man looks adorable in shirts that are too big for him. And that they'd last longer in theory.

The top one with the bike looks really similar to one that Brian got my brother for xmas this year. I thought Nolan could be Christian's mini-me. The bottom one is a map of Seattle which I just think will be cute for Nolan to wear when we're in Seattle for C's wedding in... 173 days! Not that I'm counting or anything...

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

I just want to gently recap the terrible horrible day I had yesterday, mostly because it wasn't so terrible that I don't want to remember it. There was some funny stories to come out of it too. But here goes:

6:00 Wake up, get ready - blah blah... We're expecting painters to arrive first thing and I want the house to be somewhat presentable (read: no dirty underwear on the floor)

8:05 Text the contractor what the ETA is of the crew, he says between 9-10... groan to self but recognize that this gives me a unique glimpse into the life before Nolan was born when Brian and I would just lazily sit and watch TV while I meow at him... or tickle each other. We're weird. 

10:00 Text the contractor again, they still haven't shown up. He said "They'll be there shortly"

11:00 Still no painters... by this time I'm getting upset... I'm wasting my vacation time to sit at home and watch Netflix. Not that I'm complaining but I am very busy at work so that's kind of a pain. I'm getting the impression that he's just dicking me around as previous conversations also included the question, "what day works for you to get your house painted?" TODAY works for me butthead. That's why I've wasted 3 hours at home instead of working when I'm busy. I've already committed to today, jerkface, so anything other than today is unacceptable. I text him again, "They're still not here. Can you give me a concrete time they'll arrive? You said 'shortly' before and it's been nearly an hour."

11:30 No response from the most recent text. So I call him. No answer. I turn on Friends on Netflix. Oh, it's the one where Monica bumps Ben's head on the beam. Hilarious. My mood lightens up.

12:00 No call back from the guy. It's clearly a cell phone so he has to know that I called. It rang a bunch so I'm fairly certain that the call connected. I definitely heard his voicemail but didn't leave a message before. I'm calling him back again... Ahh he answers. The convo went a little something like this:

Me: So what gives?

Painter: When would work for you to get your house painted?
Me: I don't trust you to give me a window of time that would actually work for me. I've already wasted a half day of my vacation time for your guys. 

Painter: Well if you don't trust us then maybe we shouldn't work together.

Me: Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been thinking all morning.

... ... ... silence, so he's not going to try to win my business instead he's like SCREW YOU

Me: hangs up phone.

The phone call felt like a weird combination of breaking up with someone and me firing someone. Did he expect me to beg his forgiveness that I dare question his methods of scheduling painters?

He texts me later, basically saying that since I couldn't trust him then the work that they did wouldn't be trusted either and that's why he didn't think we should work together. I called him out for being deceitful, and disrespectful of my time. 

12:15 I leave for work, I need to get stuff done.

1:30 I'm late for a meeting... gah! It's a crappy meeting. One that needed to happen but an event that I'm working on isn't getting the response it should be from the industry and we're getting a very poor RSVP rate. We're coming up with solutions. 

1:30-5:00 Doing stuff for work, about a full day's worth of work in a half day's amount of time. My brain is scrambled and I can't really think straight. 

5:00 It's alllllright cuz I'm saved by the bell. I peace the eff out and just go pick up Nolan. I have something to look forward to after work today! Getting dinner with Erick! WOOT.

5:30 Dinner's not til 6:30, let's go to the grocery store to get some stuff for a salad. EFFFF DAMN CRAP. I forgot my wallet in the car. Gotta park my cart with a babysitter (ie guest services) so they don't think it's abandoned while I go get my wallet. Meanwhile, Nolan is flipping out wanting the blackberries I just picked up. Knowing I'm going to pay for them, I give him 3. 

5:41 Oh holy geebus. The wallet is in the diaper bag which is at HOME. Ok, I load Nolan into his car seat with the blackberries. Go home grab the wallet out of the diaper bag and return to the grocery story.

5:49 I'm officially the dumbest person ever. I left the diaper bag at home after getting my wallet OUT of the diaper bag. Whatever, I'll just go to the grocery store, pay for my stuff and just go home after and grab it quickly before getting to the restaurant for dinner.

5:50 OMG Nolan is officially a zombie and has eaten some live animal. His hands and mouth are COVERED with blackberry juice which totally looks like blood. I don't have my diaper bag so I don't have my diaper wipes so I have to go into the grocery store to wipe him in the bathroom.

5:53 I pick up my cart where I left it before and walk to the bathroom (on the opposite side of the store). Nolan sees the blackberries and fights me tooth and nail to get MORE MORE MORE. As I'm walking him to the bathroom and his demeanor is that I just hung him from his toes for 17 hours I have to reassure 2 people who look at him in horror that he is NOT in fact covered in blood. 

An eternity later I get him to the bathroom where I'm able to wipe him off and most of the juice is coming off ok with minimal stains. 

6:10 We finish up grocery shopping while Nolan is still begging and screaming for more black berries. The grocer checking me out asks if he can just give them to him because he was acting crazy. I told him no, because the juice from those things will stain his clothes... lesson learned.

6:13 I get in my car and it's the precious time where I'd be able to make it on time for the dinner if I just went straight to the restaurant but I'm going to have to bank on the fact that I won't need his diaper bag. But if I go get the diaper bag I'll likely be late. I hate being late and I just went with it and didn't bring my diaper bag. Luckily I did have one of his clean cloth diapers still available from daycare so I knew I'd have that as a just in case diaper.

6:25 I get to the restaurant. I've never been but heard good things. From the outside though, this is a dive bar/pub. Omg I'm bringing my 20 month old into this place. By myself. Someone find the mother of the year trophy and send it to me stat. I got the black berries out of the back of the car because at this point who cares. His clothes already have a nice purple splatter over them. And you never know what kind of food a kid will like at a place you've never been so I take them in for dinner.

6:26 I notice about the moldiest berry I've ever seen among the berries. I have 2 choices:

a) Take all the berries away from Nolan and witness the biggest tantrum in public to this date. In a bar no less. Gah, I want a drink. Drinking while the baby is flipping out. That'll get me a quick call to CPS.

b) Take out the nasty berry and let him eat the rest. 

Gag. Gag... um I did option b. Sorry Nolan, desperate times call for desperate measures!

6:40 Friends arrive (they were late, not me! Winning!)

7:00 Husband arrives, thank goodness for reinforcements.

The entire time Nolan is acting a fool. I ordered cheeseballs and Nolan commandeered the ranch to himself. At this point I've given up momming him. He's eating the ranch with his hands. Just scooping it straight into his mouth. When it's gone, he acts a fool some more. 

I had it when he flipped backwards and did this stiff as a board move where I had to hold him by his torso and he started literally walking up my body. Feet taking steps on my stomach, to my chest, to my FACE while he's horizontal and I'm supporting him with my arms outreached. He's too heavy, I think to myself. I'm going to drop him. It all happened so quickly I don't even know how I got him down. 

I told Brian to take him home. After the day I had I just didn't need anyone trying to climb all over me. 

Little man gets picked up by Brian and as he's leaving he's reaching out for me going "mamaaaaaaaaa"

Little man you break my heart when you're so cute like that. And you make up for everything stinker-y that you do in the process. 

Biggest regret of the day is not taking a picture of his face after eating the blackberries. Seriously it was a sight to behold. 

Coming up with ways to torture my son...

It's not as bad as it seems!

I have a bad case of Friday brain which, if you've had it, means that you can't focus on the real topic at hand and instead think about things well in the future and are totally ok with it.

Today I'm thinking about my brother's wedding which is...

190 Days Away!

So back on the subject of torturing my toddler.

I swear you don't have to call CPS on me... I'm talking about getting a TUX for him for the wedding. The torture being putting a 2 year 2 months baby into a tux.

I'm exploring my options and I thought I'd be able to find a used tux on ebay but apparently there are a ton of new and pretty cheap options.

Dressing Nolan comes with challenges, mostly being that he can't stand sleeves for some reason so I think putting a vest, tie, jacket combo might be a little bit over the top for him. But imagine the PICTURES we could get!

In other news, I've been bitten by the Carters bug once again and am currently online shopping for a fun summer wardrobe for my little man including plaid shorts and polos. COME ON SUMMER! I can't wait til the warmer weather when little man and I can go to the park more often and play in the backyard without coats on.

Also...

Have a great weekend everyone!